Three U.S. Men's Beach Teams Advance

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (May 9, 2014) – Three U.S. men’s beach volleyball teams advanced from pool play on Thursday at the FIVB Puerto Vallarta Open in Mexico.

Christal Engle receives the ball in Puerto Riico.

Meanwhile, in the women’s bracket, it is also looking good for both U.S. teams to move on from pool play.

Leading the way for the U.S. men were John Hyden (Pensacola, Fla.) and Tri Bourne (Aiea, Hawaii), seeded No. 11, who went undefeated in pool play after beating Switzerland’s No. 6 Philip Gabathuler and Mirco Gerson, 21-16, 21-12 in 40 minutes on Thursday. Hyden and Bourne advanced straight to the second round of single-elimination where they await their opponent.

No. 27 Brad Keenan (Westminster, Calif.) and John Mayer (Thousand Oaks, Calif.), who got to the main draw by winning a qualifying match, also advanced to the first round after going 2-1 in pool play. On Thursday, they defeated China’s No. 22 Cong Yang and Jiaxin Wu, 23-21, 21-12 in 39 minutes. Keenan and Mayer will face Venezuela’s No. 23 Jackson Henriquez and Leonard Alexis Colina Chourio on Friday.

The U.S. men’s team Will Montgomery (Santa Barbara, Calif.) and Stafford Slick (Andover, Minn.), seeded No. 13, went 0-3 in pool play after losing their final match by injury default and did not advance.

Both teams won their second matches of the day. Engle and Hughes defeated Thailand’s No. 13 Varapatsorn Radarong and Tanarattha Udomchavee, 21-14, 21-14 in 35 minutes. Fopma and Pavlik came back to beat Italy’s No. 29 Giulia Momoli and Giulia Toti, 21-13, 21-11 in 30 minutes.

On Friday, Pavlik and Fopma will play Radarong and Udomchavee while Engle and Hughes face Momoli and Toti.